


Drabbles

by FlowerCrownOfPoppy



Category: Dying Light (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-10
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 14:57:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4309620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlowerCrownOfPoppy/pseuds/FlowerCrownOfPoppy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brief exploration in character interaction between Crane and the Aldemir siblings. Might add further drabble chapters if I fancy it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Wren

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly I just had to get these out after Dying Light's story missions frustrated me. I saw a lot of missed potential especially with the Aldemir siblings so I decided to give them and Crane some love. I might add more later if the fancy strikes me but they're not in any strict chronological order.

Kyle Crane's been running missions for days, or weeks, or long enough to not remember. Sometimes he goes up to the roof and sees Rahim sitting there watching the stars, or what you can see of them beyond the UV lights. Crane sits down with him and they spend their time tossing beer cans off the Tower's edge. Other times Rahim asks him questions and he sees to no reason to lie anymore, so he answers truthfully. He tells him about what it’s like to live in America, about the people he works for, what his job is. He tells him what it’s like to eat a hamburger and that back there there’s no infection or racing to hide whenever the sun sets. He tells Rahim about his childhood and Rahim laughs, calls him a soft westerner, and it doesn’t annoy Crane as much as he thought it would. He thinks about how he’s seen a hundred cars burning up on a dozen broken roads but none of that compares to the fire he sees in this kid, the unabashed hunger in him to make something of the short life he’s had. 

Crane wants to make his life longer and not just because he promised Jade. It scares him more than any zombie flashing its teeth in the dark.


	2. The Scorpion

Jade Aldemir, kickboxing champion. Crane learns this twice, the second time the hard way. No amount of spec ops training can save him from being knocked on his ass when the scorpion strikes him down. What she lacks in strength she makes up for in speed and cunning, unafraid in the face of anything, even armed men. 

But Crane isn’t armed and he never would be, not against her. She’s got a good heart underneath her barbed tongue, and even then only barbed for all the right reasons. He knows better than to curb her anger after all this time because he knows as well as any that anger is what keeps you on your feet when nothing else will. 

When she’s not moving he finds her on the balcony and they talk, usually business. She is more cautious than her brother, watches her verbal steps, yet anger doesn’t last forever. Crane knows this and he watches her tense shoulders ease a bit, the slight tilt of her head as she becomes curious, watching him with those dark eyes. He tells her the same things he told Rahim: the truth, mostly. In all the places that it mattered anyway. She smiles once or twice, doesn’t seem to judge him quite as quickly as her brother. This is the closest to relaxed he’s ever seen her and for once he finally notices how young she truly is beneath the furrowed brows and kickboxing title. 

Crane knows she doesn’t need protection from the infected roaming the streets below but he wants to protect her from everything else. From Rais. From the GRE. From the rest of the world that would be all too eager to swallow them whole before letting them see the light.


	3. The Crane

Soft lamplight bathes Crane’s apartment -- _their_ apartment -- in a warm glow. He thinks back briefly on his first room in the Tower, his quiet roommate constantly tinkering with the radio. Quiet and as safe as he could feel in Harran, yet now? Now Jade is slung across the couch, head pillowed on her arm, and Rahim is spread on the floor like a starfish.

They both have beds. Crane snorts softly through his nose and treads lightly. He's so tired his bones ache but there's no need to make them suffer with him. Rahim snores in his sleep and twitches, fingers curling briefly into a fist.

Crane grabs an old blanket, frayed at the edges but warm, and tiptoes past the twitchy teenager. Part of him can’t believe he’s doing this. A bigger part of him can see the goosebumps on Rahim’s arm and feels compelled to do  _something_. 

He sucks in breath quietly and unfolds the blanket, drapes it across Rahim’s body. Surprisingly he doesn’t wake up. He stops being so twitchy, in fact, lips smacking together as he turns on his side.

Stupid kid, Crane thinks, and it takes him a moment to realize he’s smiling.

“Crane?” 

Jade looks as sleepy as she sounds, the word a slurred whisper. She must’ve just woken up. Crane turns as she rubs at her eyes and lets out a yawn. “What are you doing?”

“I, uh,” Crane raises his hands innocently, caught in the act. “He looked cold, is all. Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Jade blinks at that and her eyes spark with humor. “You put a blanket over him? How sweet. The last time anyone did that he was 6 years old.”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Crane huffs, careful as he maneuvers away from Rahim who still, miraculously, is asleep. 

“He won’t even let me do it,” Jade says with another yawn. Her legs swing silently over the edge of the couch. “What time is it? Do I have --”

“Easy, easy. No one needs you right now -- aside from your bed, that is.”

Jade’s eyes spark again. It’s a look Crane could get used to. “Are you trying to order me to go to bed?”

“No, no.” Crane is hasty to wave his hands in a gesture of peace. No sane man on earth would try to order the Scorpion so carelessly. “I mean, call me crazy, but I think a bed is comfier than a couch. Unless you’re sleeping in a hostel.”

Jade hums and stretches her arms out. “And what about you? Finally going to get some shut eye or hunt for mushrooms in the moonlight again?”

Crane should’ve known exhaustion wouldn’t dull her tongue. He smiles again and she smiles back. “Not exactly. I think I can afford a few hours to lay down, just this once.”

“Just this once,” Jade repeats, glancing down at her brother and rolling her eyes. He still snores softly but at least the goosebumps are gone. “Good night, Crane.”

“Yeah,” he calls out quietly, watching her slip into the room she shares with her brother. He stands there listening to the sound of sheets shifting down the hall, the nose whistling next to his feet, and feels a sensation curl in his chest he has no proper name for. All he knows as he whispers  _good night_  is that it’s warm.


End file.
